Reboots
may seem old hat nowadays, but there was a time when such things were
new and handled with the utmost care. John Byrne rebooted Superman
in the mid '80s when DC was trying to streamline their continuity and
he was brought back to help Marvel do the same in the post-Heroes
Reborn era. Marvel was dead in the water in the late '90s, the
result of bad business dealings which resulted in bankruptcy. While
fans are aware of the Ultimate Spider-Man series, this gentler
reboot by John Byrne predates it by more than a year.

While
attempting to update parts of Spider-Man's origins, Byrne introduced
some concepts which didn't really work, such as making the Sandman
and Norman Osborn (a/k/a the Green Goblin) related and Electro's
godawful “updated” look. By and large this is a channel surfing
version of the first 19 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Byrne
glosses over some issues but by and large tightens things up. This is
as much a retelling as it is a reboot.

Byrne
was in cash cow mode here, being writer, artist, and letterer.
This wasn't his high point as an artist, but his work is still decent
for the most part. Many fans have decided that this series is not
canon. Marvel has made so much of their continuity meaningless over
the years that it can be difficult for one to tell exactly what is
canon any more or not.

I
bought the floppies of this series a decade or so ago when I first
heard about them, figuring that there was zero chance of this ever
being compiled in a trade paperback. As always, I am happy to be
proven wrong. This is an enjoyable but not essential read. If you are
a John Byrne fan then it's a must read book.

Junk
Food For Thought rating: 3.75 out of 5.

The
OCD zone- I love these chunky trade paperbacks. I might pass on
one or two smaller books, but give me a chunky monkey of a book like
this and I am all over it.

DVD-style
Extras included in this book: Respinning
The Web by John Byrne from #1. (1 page)

#1
Dynamic Forces Variant by Jae Lee and Jose Villarrubia. (1 page)

#2
Dynamic Forces Variant by Jae Lee and Jose Villarrubia. (1 page)

#2
Variant by John Byrne. (1 page)

All
12 standard cover minus trade dress, four per page. (3 pages)

Linework
and Color restoration rating: 4.75 out of 5. Everything looks
great except for #6, page 10 and #6, page 14. The latter has severe
pixelation, like it was scanned from a printed page at an extremely
low resolution.